Engineers at the University of California, Berkeley have created the world’s smallest flying robot that can be controlled without any wires. The robot was designed to mimic the flight behavior of insects like bumblebees.
This tiny insect-like machine is less than 1 centimeter wide and weighs only 21 milligrams—lighter than a grain of rice. Robot can hover in the air, change direction, and even hit small targets. Just like a bee visiting flowers, it could one day help with tasks like artificial pollination or exploring hard-to-reach places.
The research team from Berkeley Professor Liwei Lin, and graduate alumnus Wei Yue published their findings in the journal «Science Advances».
One of the biggest challenges in building such a tiny flying robot is powering it. Normal batteries and control electronics are too heavy for something this small. To solve this, the engineers used a clever method—they power and control the robot using an external magnetic field.
The robot is shaped like a tiny propeller and has two small magnets inside. When it’s placed inside a changing magnetic field, the magnets push and pull, making the propeller spin. This creates enough lift to make the robot fly. By adjusting the strength of the magnetic field, researchers can control where the robot goes.
